Rusty Mason

Congratulations on maintaining your self-control and sticking to your initial offer. Your agent should have been able to pull up the comparable sales in the community to help you determine a fair price for the house. Yes, it sounds as if the sellers have given in and opted for a professional to sell their home and, if they have been trying to sell their home as a FSBO, certain scenarios could have the house listed on the MLS with only 4 days on market. That all depends on the MLS history and how the house was presented on the MLS during the past year. Your agent should be able to provide that information to you.

I am assuming that you and your agent have been looking at your new home for some time now. You are ready to purchase but still can keep your persepective on home values in your search. Stick with your agent and your instincts and look at what else has come on the market recently. Countetr the counter offer with your intial offer only if you really want this property and you don't see any other house on the market at this time. Put a short window on the offer and see how the sellers respond. You may chose to have your agent verbally reiterate your intial offer and let the seller's counter offer expire. This puts you in control of your purchase and allows the fredom to look elsewhere.

This is a great time to buy and sellers are finding out that it is a great time to sell as long as both parties are realistic in their results. Again, the comps are the main statistics to take into consideration in your situation. If this house is 6% higher than the market, then, the sellers may have to wait for the market to catch up with them. Besides, the next house you see may be the one that you have been looking for all along.

Good luck in your home search,

Rusty Mason, Coldwell Banker John Moffitt and Associates - Mon Jun 23 2008, 21:59

Good afternoon, Srini,

It sounds like you are right at the beginnig of your home search and to get you off to the best start possible, we may eed to sit down and determine what the best fit for you in a home in Overland Park would be. Of course, I would recommend that you begin your search on my web site at http://www.RustyMason.net but first, you would need to determine what type of home would best fit your needs.

You would also want to check with a few lenders to see what type and how much of a loan you would qualify for on a home. This goes a long way in seeing how much and where your are in your home buying search.

Each hiome sale is different and we would have to go throught the first steps to determine what house you would be looking at and then I would be able to do some deeper research to determine how much and if any reductions in price would be recommended.

Give me a call from my web site and let's see what we can do for you today.

Rusty Mason, Realtor
Coldwell Banker John Moffitt and Associates
cell 816-804-3423 - Sun Jun 15 2008, 10:23

Jonathan,

It sounds like you are on the right track in looking at your credit situation and seeing just how close you are to owning a home. You are right in that you will need both of your incomes and creit scores if you are looking to purchase a more expensive home. Our in house lender is Coldwell Banker Mortgage and they are aware of what programs are out there for first time home buyers, those with student loans and buyers who need a little help in getting into a home.

No doubt, getting back on track with your student loan will go a long way towards helping both of you in your loan processing. This might be a good time to focus on getting those payments caught up and puttig some away for your upcoming down payment on the home you plan to purchase.

With some more details on your situation and plans, I may be able to help direct you towards your home purchase. Another few months in preparation will save you thousands over the next several years. My web site is http://www.RustyMason.net. Let me show you what we can do for you.

Rusty Mason, Realtor
Coldwell Banker John Moffitt and Associates, Overland Park, KS
office line 913-317-0125 - Sun Jun 15 2008, 10:13